3 Lessons We Learned From Launching a New Website

Feb

11

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Written by Rose Souders

We did it! We finally launched a new website!

Our old site was almost 5 years old, twice as old as any website should ever be! We decided it was time Potluck got a facelift and that we needed a new site to better represent our brand. Since we work in our clients’ websites on a daily basis, we figured it was a good idea for us to tackle it ourselves. WRONG. Here’s what we learned in the process.

Lesson 1: Unless you’re a web developer, you probably stink at building websites.

We know we’re going to get a lot of pushback on this opinion, but we’re standing our ground. Two years ago we built ourselves a new site, but because we weren’t web developers, we lacked the skill we needed to really match the design and function with our high-level services. We are really good at what we do and differ greatly from our competitors, but our website didn’t convey that. Long story short, that website never went live. Lesson learned – make a smart decision and hire someone who knows what they’re doing and can build you exactly what you need to reach your goals and target market. This is the same advice for everything in business, especially with your digital marketing efforts. Don’t settle for less. Period.

Lesson 2: If you’re running a thriving business, you don’t have time to build your own website.

We were busy and the website was always pushed to the backburner. Eventually, building our own site became a task that we resented vs. an exciting opportunity for the company. For a small firm like ours, it was silly to think that we should prioritize time building something that we really had no business doing. In the end, we saved money by stopping our efforts and investing in a rock solid web developer. Lesson learned – work smarter, not harder.

Lesson 3: Hiring an expert means that you’ll get more than you had even planned for.

When we hired Deb to develop our site, we were amazed by the number of doors we could decide to open. There were things we hadn’t even considered because we were thinking too small. Things that we would have normally consulted our clients to ask their developers for, we forgot to ask ourselves. This is a classic mistake that all business owners can relate to. You’re just too close to the brand and can’t see what needs to be done. Lesson learned – investing in an expert is a smart decision for long-term strategy. You need to think big when you develop a brand new site and create it for not only the marketing campaigns you’re running in present day, but also for the type of campaigns you plan to run in the near future. Your website needs to support these needs and function accordingly.

This new website is a reminder that it’s important to hire experts to do things you’re not focused on or good at. Well, we finally hired someone, and we should have done it a lot sooner!

Here’s What Our New Site Includes

The new Potluck Consulting site includes an active blog with how-to resources for social media, email marketing, SEO, and updates from us. These will look similar in format to some of our past newsletters, but will now allow you to search by category on the site, add comments, and start discussions right on the blog itself. We want to provide a transparent space to discuss strategies, share recommendations, and build a helpful community.

Our site will also provide a platform for you to access our new FREE crash courses, similar to the 3-Day Social Media Crash Course some of you received when subscribing to our newsletter in October.

Long story short, we’re going to be writing a lot about the strategies we’re using, how you can use them in your own efforts, and provide a place to discuss them. Virtual potluck, everyone brings something to the table.

Thanks for going along the ride with us.

We’re humans, learn from trial and error, and hope that by outlining our experience, it helps you throughout your own new website process.

Did we miss something on our new site? Drop us a note to recommend an addition.